Womans Endurance | Page 9

to enquire after old Mrs. Oosthuizen; found she had died soon
after last visit.
Pleasant evening; stories of my travels; in Italy once more.
* * * * *
Wednesday, September 4.--My visits to hospital I love.
That one girl such a sad case; fever and most terrible headache; they
say it is sunstroke.
Hysterical girl quiet.
Filth and stench in some tents almost unbearable.

Nos. 34 and 35 very bad; ventilated tent myself; some folks built that
way, and sickness becomes their trench behind which they shelter. But
I will persist in maintaining that no matter the sickness, no matter the
distress and poverty, cleanliness is a possibility anywhere[31]. But
what an opportunity for the careless to degenerate!
Managed to get bedstead for Mrs. Van Zyl; fear she won't last long.
I wonder what the safest policy would be when two women pour out
their griefs into your ear at the same time. When they simultaneously
tell you all about their departed cherubs? Some people selfish in their
sorrow. Took little camphor brandy Mrs. Niemand's; tent full lamenting
womenfolk; and the helpless babe casting her black eyes from one to
another. Some people will insist on anticipating the Almighty (the child
is dead, though).
Saw a child to-day the very image of a mouse; two months' illness;
large ears; black eyes; thin, bony hands; huddled together.
Very busy afternoon.
Funerals at 4 p.m.; eighteen corpses; "En God zal alle tranen van hunne
oogen afwisschen" (And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes).
How can one's heart remain hard? Can one be unmoved when you see
weeping, stricken mothers kneeling in anguish beside their infants'
graves?
Love, after all, is the greatest and most mysterious of all things.
Explain it that a mother can cling to a helpless, idiotic, deformed boy
for fourteen years, and feed him mouth to mouth! Explain that a mother
can sit up night and day, day and night, with a sick child! Look at those
deep-set eyes, sorrow-sunken, their care-wornness, and tell me what is
this Love that endureth all things!
Two things have I learnt during these fourteen days which till now to
me were "all fancy"--the meaning of Love and the thing called

Religion.
* * * * *
Thursday, September 5th.--Tent overhauled; floor rubbed and
"smeered" (coated); very miserable, windy day; dust; dirt; towards
evening cold south winds; fear it will work havoc with the children
to-night.
Hospitals; so sorry about Miss Snyman; quite delirious to-day; wonder
if she will live.
Hysterical one[32] quite tame; "Ach, minheer zijn hand is tog zoo koud;
ik wens, minheer, wil die heele dag mij kop hou" ("Ah, sir, your hand
is so very cold, I wish you would hold it to my head the whole day").
Found things cleaner at 35; still great misery.
Fear old Mrs. Van Zyl will die.
The De Wets (526) sad way; so many sick; one daughter dead; two
children in hospital; this afternoon baby died.
Neglected to go to Mrs. Niemand--poor little mother!
De Lintz in great misery; gnashing teeth girlie[33] weaker.
Some people selfish in their sorrow; but I don't suppose a man can
fathom the love a mother bears her child!
Near Church (!) great misery; sick mother (husband Bloemfontein) and
four sick children; all helplessly ill; no one to help; and water has to be
carried and wood fetched and chopped.
Milk supply has been stopped in Camp; this causes great distress.
What sorrows one is to find tent upon tent with sick children and no
nourishing or invalid food; not even milk.

Wonder if there can be suffering greater than what some folk endure
here.
Mr. Becker funerals; four, I believe, only (!).
Eight died since yesterday afternoon; may a change come speedily.
* * * * *
Friday, September 6.--Handicapped with a horrible cold, which won't
go away; throat hoarse; unpleasant day, very; wind, dust.
Daily routine: Hospital; visits; dinner; visits; funerals; visits; supper;
bed.
Nine buried this afternoon; "Heere gij zijt ons een Toevlucht van
Geslacht tot Geslacht" (Lord, Thou hast been our dwelling-place in all
generations); dreary business.
There have died during one month (August) about 230 people.
A new doctor has come, and now I hope things will grow brighter.
Miss Snyman in hospital little better.
Sad case this evening; found mother at bedside[34] of sick child; she
has lost two already this week, and this one is the last; husband died
Green Point. The sorrow of it! May God spare that child's life.
Hear from Mr. Becker that the old Tante[35] beyond the Camp, with
sick mother and sick children, has broken down. What on earth will
become of them?
Some here unconsciously overdo it, and overtax their own strength in
their grim fights with Angel of Death. A sort of